SCOTLAND plunged £12.4billion into the red last year, following a collapse in oil revenues that leaves Nicola Sturgeon’s dream of more powers for Holyrood in chaos

More than £66.4billion was spent here in 2013-14 by Westminster and Holyrood, but only £54billion was raised through taxes.

Last year Scots paid £400 per person more in tax than the UK as a whole – but they also received £1,200 more in spending.

The revenue includes the country’s share of North Sea oil and tax receipts. However, the amount of tax generated by North Sea fields dropped from £5.6billion in 2012-13 to £3.9billion.

At the same time, the cost of the welfare state continues to grow, up by £38million to £22.3billion. And the recent slump in oil prices will add further pressure this year.

The deficit is equivalent to 8.1 per cent of GDP, an improvement on last year’s figure of 9.7 per cent but higher than the UK’s 5.6 per cent.

The news undermines the SNP’s general election demand for full fiscal autonomy and hopes of another independence referendum.

The figures – unveiled by the First Minister yesterday morning – mean that every man, woman and child would have been the equivalent of £800 worse off in 2013-14 if Holyrood had control of tax and spending.

Ms Sturgeon, however, repeated her demand for full fiscal autonomy.

She said: “Scotland is a prosperous country – our proposition is that it will be in an even stronger position if we gain the greater powers that we need to grow our economy faster, create more jobs and boost our revenues.

“I believe in Scotland being independent – I believe that today as strongly as I believed it in the referendum campaign. Short of independence, I believe we should have full fiscal autonomy and will continue to argue that case.”

The figures were contained in the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland accounts. They showed finances improved compared to the previous year, but at a slower rate than the remainder of the UK.

The SNP wants full fiscal autonomy and, as we can see from these figures, that would mean absolute chaos for Scotland’s finances

Gavin Brown, the Scottish Conservatives finance spokesman

Scotland accounted for 8.6 per cent of UK’s taxes in 2013/14 but 9.2 per cent of spending. That amounts to £12,500 per Scot, £1,200 more than the UK average.

Among the areas where Scotland does contribute more to the Treasury than its population share are tobacco, alcohol and gambling duties.

Respected think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned last night that, if Scotland did have fiscal autonomy in 2015–16, the deficit would be 4 per cent of GDP higher than that of the UK as a whole. This is equivalent to a difference of around £6.6billion.

David Phillips, a senior re­­search economist at the IFS, said: “Full fiscal autonomy would likely involve substantial spending cuts or tax rises in Scotland – unless oil revenues rebound and remain at consistently high levels, or credible policies to boost the growth of Scotland’s onshore economies and revenues can be developed.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Conservatives said that the SNP’s demands would require the equivalent of an 8p increase in income tax.

Gavin Brown, the party’s finance spokesman, said: “The SNP wants full fiscal autonomy and, as we can see from these figures, that would mean absolute chaos for Scotland’s finances.”

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said that the shocking figures will force the “long overdue retirement of a number of economic myths” used by the Nationalists.

He added: “There is no way to avoid these hard facts and attempting to do so would simply be irresponsible.”

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said: “After years of paying into the UK kitty, and with plummeting oil revenues we need the security of the Barnett formula now more than ever.

“It’s a cruel irony that, after years of claiming that they alone stand up for Scotland, the SNP’s own figures have exposed the fact that their plan for full fiscal autonomy would impose austerity-max on our country.”